Separating and feeding sheets



,1938. w. POLLARD I SEPARATING AND FEEDING SHEETS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledOct. '7, 1936 lhvenzh \l m Il W x v l A, A @fi H, M m mmmmw o 390 MMM NWl I- mm n z ww 1 S Q 6 EN ,L m MW w fi m mm; mm .m Wm w w. POLLARDSEPARATIN G AND FEEDING SHEETS Feb. 15, 1938.

Filed Oct. 7, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I fizz/enjoy 1731a yea/(Z21 700,

Patented eb. 1-5,

UNITED sures SEPARATING AND FEEDING SHEETS Walter Pollard, Romford,England, assignor to A. B. Dick Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation ofIllinois Application October 1, 1930, Serial No. 104,391 I Great Britainottom- 11, 1935 8 Claims.

The present invention relates to improved means for separating andfeeding sheets to printing machines. p

In sheet separating devices at present known the separation takes placeat the forward end of the pile, that is to say at the end near the feedrollers of the machine. According to one known type of sheet separatorthe pile rests upon 1 a feed board provided with a rear stop plate, theforward edges of the sheets registering under clamping fingers whichrise clear of the pile to permit the separator to withdraw the topsheet, buckle the same between it and the rear stop plate and then tofeed it forward over the clamping fingers, which meantime have descendedto grip the pile, and so to the feed rollers of the machine. With suchseparators which act upon the forward end of the 'pile experience hasshown that there is a tendency for more than one sheet to be separatedat a time, and the object of the present invention is to overcome thistendency or alternatively to lessen it.

According to this invention, a. sheet separating and feeding device forprinting machines includes a separating member adapted to separate asheet at or near a rear stop member for the pile of sheets and buckle itbetween itself and a feeding member, the latter being adapted to feedthe separated sheet machine.

According to a further feature of the invention a sheet separating andfeeding device for printing machines also includes a presser plateadapted to descend on the pile at the stop member end after a sheet hasbeen separated, thereby preventing further separation until the feedingmem ber has advanced the sheet to the feed rollers of the machine.According to a still further feature of the invention, the feedingmember is adapted to exert pressure on the sheet about to be separatedwhile the sheet is buckled between it and the separating member.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of examplewith reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device, partly in section, certainparts being omitted for clearness;

Figures 2, 3, and 4 are detailed sectional elevations illustratingrespectively the presser plate, the operating means of the feed memberand the separating member and its operating means;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary section of the device showing the separatingmeans, taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4, and,

Figure 6 is a fragmentary section of the device, mostly on the line 6-6of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the sheet separating and feeding device isincorporated as a unit in between the feed rollers of the a frame I,which may be cast integral with or separate from the frame of theprinting machine. Mounted in the frame I there-is a splined shaft 2driven from the main driving shaft (not shown) of the printing machinethrough a train of gears.

The separating member I0, feeding member II and presser plate I2 andtheir actuating means are mounted in a cross frame 3 siidable on theframe I towards and away from the feed rollers 4 of the printing machineover the paper feed board 5 on which is placed a stack of sheets 6,engaged at its rear end by the stop plate or pins 39.

Mounted on the shaft 2 in the frame 3 there is a worm I (Fig. 6) meshingwith a worm gear 6 fast on a cam shaft 9 mounted in the frame 3.

Secured to the cam shaft 9 there is a cam member I3 which has camgrooves I4 and I5 formed in its respective sides. The cam groove I4governs the horizontal reciprocatory movement of the feeding member IIand the cam groove I5 that of the separating member ID. These twomembers also perform vertical reciprocatory movement whichlis derivedfrom a lateral longitudinal slideway l6, suspended from links H, I8 andoperated by a cam I9 acting upon the follower 20 of link I6.

The sheet separating member I0 is mounted in a. sub-frame 2| suspendedfrom links 22, 23 pivoted in the cross frame 3 (Fig. 4). The follower 24seated on link23 rides in the cam groove I5 of cam I3, so that rotationof this cam results in the horizontal reciprocation of the separatingmember I0, same being moved from the full line position (Fig. 1) intothe dotted position 25 in which the uppermost sheet 26 of the pile 6 isbuckled between it and the feed member II, which is pressed onto saiduppermost sheet 26 during the buckling operation.

The sub-frame 2| is provided at either end with a roller (not shown)adapted to be engaged by the adjacent slideway I6, whereby theseparating member is afforded a vertical reciprocatory movement inaddition to its horizontal reciprocatory movement due to the cam grooveI5, such movements being so timed that member III is pressed on theuppermost sheet 26 during the buckling operation, but is raisedtherefrom during the sheet feeding operation.

The separating member ID is spring pressed downwardly so that it mayhave a good grip on the sheet, and for this purpose it is engaged by aroller 21 mounted on one arm of a bell crank 26 pivoted in. thesub-frame 21, the other arm of the bell crank being connected with aspring 29 anchored in the sub-frame 2I. The spring has an adjustableconnection to the bell crank arm,

. so as to be able to adjust the pressure with which the separator I0 isapplied to the sheet.

The feeding member I I is mounted in end slides a (Fig. 6)' running inthe slideways l6 and afforded vertical reciprocatory movement thereby,

horizontal reciprocatory movement being commuriicated to the slides sothrough links a by levers 3i pivoted in the cross frame 3 and having ofthe pile 6 and the separating member i0 is also caused to descendthereon. The separating member is now moved by the action of cam groovel5 towards the feeding member whereby the sheet is buckled therebetweenas shown in Fig. 1. As soon as the rear end of the sheet has been drawnaway from the stop member 39 the presser plate descends on the nextfollowing sheet under the action of the cams 31 and prevents furtherseparation. After the sheet has been buckled the separating member in israised by the action of the slideways IE to release the sheet and at thesame time pressure on the feeding member ii is relieved to theappropriate extent to enable same to feed the sheet forward between thefeed rollers 4 of the printing machine by the action of the cam grooveit. This accomplished the feeding member is raised to release the sheetaltogether and withdrawn, the presser plate l2 being also raised torelease the next following sheet, whereupon the cycle is repeated.

It will be understood that various forms of the invention other thanthat described above may be used without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. In a sheet separating and feeding device for a machine having feedrollers and a rear stop for a pile of sheets, a separating memberadjacent said stop, a feed member forward of the separating member, andactuating means for said members whereby the separating member buckles asheet from the pile forwardly against the feeding member, and saidfeeding member thereafter feeds said sheet between the said rollers.

2. In a sheet separating and feeding device for a machine having feedrollers, a separating member adjacent the rear of the pile of sheets tobe fed, a, feeding member, a presser plate operative to clamp the rearend of the pile after separation of a sheet, means actuating theseparating member to buckle a sheet against said feeding member, andmeans actuating said feeding member to forward the buckled sheet betweedthe feed rollers.

3. In a sheet separating and feeding device for a machine having feedrollers, a separating member adjacent the rear of the pile of sheets tobe fed, a feeding member, a presser plate operative to clamp the rearend of the pile after separation of a sheet, means actuating saidfeeding member to exert pressure on the separated sheet during buckling,and thereafter-to feed said sheet between the feed rollers.

4. A sheet separating and feeding device for a machine having feedrollers driven from a main driving shaft, including a-separating member,a feeding member, a presser plate, a cross frame over the pile of sheetsto be fed carrying said separating and feeding members and said presserplate, cams mounted on the cross frame operable from the main drivingshaft, link and lever means actuated by one of said cams to imparttimed, horizontal reciprocating movements to the separating member, linkand lever means actuated by another of said cams to impart timed,horizontal reciprocating movements to the feeding member, and resilientmeans actuated from another of said cams to periodically engage thepresser plate against said pile.

5. A sheet separating and feeding device for a machine having feedrollers driven from a main driving shaft, including a separating member,a feeding member, a presser member, a cross frame over the pile ofsheets to be fed carrying said separating and feeding members and saidpresser member, slideways at the sides of the device mounted forlongitudinal rocking movement and operatively connected to saidseparating and feeding members to impart vertical reciprocating movementthereto, cam means actuated from the main driving shaft to impart timedrocking movement to said slideways, cami mounted on the cross frameoperable from the main driving shaft, mechanism actuated by said cams toimpart timed horizontal movements to the separating member and to thefeeding member, and linkage including a resilient member actuated fromone of said cams to periodically engage the presser member against thepile.

6. A sheet feeding device adapted to separate and feed sheets singly insuccession from a pile, comprising a separating member movable toseparate the rear end of a sheet forwardly from the pile and thereafterto release said sheet, a feeding member pressed upon said pile duringseparation to cause the separated sheet to be buckled between theseparating member and thereafter movable to feed said sheet forwardlyfrom the pile, and cam means to actuate said separating and feedingmembers in timed relation.

7. In a feeding and separating device for a pile of sheets, a feedingmember, a separating member, means to resiliently engage the separatingmember with the top of the pile, means to move the separating membertoward the feeding member to buckle a sheet from said pile, means tomove the feeding member in contact with said sheet to forward it fromthe pile, and means to successively raise the separating memher and thefeeding member out of contact with the pile.

8. In a feeding and separating device for a pile of sheets, a, feedingmember adapted to engage the pile lntermediate its ends and a separatingmember movable to separate the rear end of a sheet from the pile and tobuckle said sheet forwardly against the feeding member. WALTER POLLARD.

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